The news is not good lately about how effective the head fundraiser is at nonprofit organizations. A new study by CompassPoint reveals some startling realities about the fundraiser role in the nonprofit sector:

25% of executive directors fired their last development director

33% of executive directors are lukewarm about their current development director

More than 50% of executive directors say they can’t find well-qualified fundraisers

50% of development directors plan to leave within the next two years

And 40% plan to leave fundraising altogether

That sounds like a fundraising crisis to me. And it’s just another example of why fundraising in the nonprofit sector is broken. So in today’s installment of my regular Financing Not Fundraising blog series, I’m talking about how to find and keep a great fundraiser.

If you’re new to this series, Financing Not Fundraising recognizes that fundraising in the nonprofit sector just doesn’t work anymore. Nonprofits have to break out of the narrow view that traditional FUNDRAISING (individual donor appeals, events, foundation grants) will completely fund all of their activities and instead work to create a broader approach to securing the overall FINANCING necessary to create social change. You can read the entire series here.

What I find most troubling about CompassPoint’s recent study is that it makes nonprofits sound so powerless to do anything about this deep dissatisfaction with fundraising performance. But I think it’s not staff, board or donors who are lacking, rather it’s the entire fundraising approach.

Here is how to go about finding and keeping a great fundraiser.

Hire a Money Head. Don’t hire someone who can just write grants or someone who can just work with individual donors. Take a look at the entire financial engine of your organization and hire someone who can develop and execute a strategy for strengthening and growing ALL aspects of that financial engine. If you have significant government grants or earned income, make sure you have someone on board who understands and can work with those aspects as well as the private money that flows to the organization.

Develop a Financing Plan. Don’t just expect to hire someone who will magically make money appear. Your head fundraiser has to be in charge of developing and executing an overall financing strategy for your organization. And that means that you need an overall financing strategy for your organization. Without a strategy, your chief fundraiser and your nonprofit are sunk.

Pay a Real Salary. It amazes me how many nonprofits expect to entice a great fundraiser by offering a salary that is comparable to someone with only a few years of experience . If you don’t have the current budget to pay a market rate, raise capacity capital to fund the first 1-2 years of the position. Once you have a great fundraiser on board he will raise his own salary while growing your nonprofit’s overall revenue.

Work WITH Them. It drives me crazy how many times a nonprofit’s lone fundraiser is trying to raise all the money by herself. If you are going to align mission and money, you have to make sure that EVERYONE in the organization (board and staff) understand their role in bringing money in the door. Create a culture of philanthropy among the staff so that even a staff member who doesn’t have dollar goals in her job description understands that talking to prospects and donors, giving tours, writing thank you notes are critical to keeping the organization going. And make sure the board is trained in fundraising, has a give/get requirement, and has specific individual and board money goals.

Hire Enough Fundraisers. The rule of thumb is that it takes one full time person to raise $500K, including anyone who touches prospects and donors (database manager, prospect researcher, etc). If you are asking a single fundraiser to raise $1.5 million there is little wonder why she is (and you are) miserable.

Give Them Tools. Don’t hire a great fundraiser and then fail to give him a donor database, an interactive website, marketing materials, prospect research, support. It does no good to hire someone with great ideas but no way to bring those ideas to fruition. If you don’t have the budget for additional support and tools, raise capacity capital to find it.

Train Them. No one knows it all. In every other profession we expect to send employees to conferences, provide them classes, coach them along the way. Don’t expect that your fundraiser automatically knows all there is to know. Give him opportunities to gain new knowledge, meet others in the field, and continue to grow his skills.

If you want to attract and retain someone who will develop a sustainable financial engine for your nonprofit, don’t leave her out in the cold. Fully integrate your head fundraiser into your organization and give her the tools, support and resources necessary to succeed.

Learn more about nonprofit innovation anddownload a free Financing Not Fundraising e-book when you sign up for email updatesfrom Social Velocity.

About the Author: Nell Edgington is President of Social Velocity (www.socialvelocity.net), a management consulting firm leading nonprofits to greater social impact and financial sustainability. Social Velocity helps nonprofits grow their programs, bring more money in the door, and use resources more effectively. For more information, check out Social Velocity consulting services and clients.

I’m glad to hear that, Janette! Let me know if you have questions as you implement some of these ideas.

Yvan CastroFebruary 20, 2013

Thank you for sharing, I didn’t know about that the rule of thumb is that it takes one full time person to raise $500K. It is really quite interesting. I know that a development officer in a Major Gift Program should work with 30 to 50 donors. What is your opinion about that rate?

Yvan, I actually think that rate for a prospect and donor portfolio is pretty low. I think a full time major gifts person can handle a portfolio of 120-150 people in a year. And if you are an executive director or a development director who can only spend part of your time on major gift donors and prospects, you can multiply that portfolio by the percent of time you can devote to major gifts. So, for example if an executive director can devote 25% of her time to major gifts, she could handle a portfolio of about 34 people (135 x 25%).

Ken GrunkeMarch 5, 2013

I was wondering if someone would send me a link or the info related to the full time fundraiser raising 500k – I’ve never heard that before and I’m having a challenging time finding more about the origin of the fact through online resources. Thanks!

[…] Social Velocity suggested that organizations need to have a realistic number of fundraisers. One employee can’t raise $1 million by herself. Giving employees the right tools can enable them to achieve better results. An interactive website and mobile donations platform can help your fundraisers turn their bright ideas into actions. Relying on the power of smartphones is the way to get employees more involved and secure a greater number of donations. […]

[…] Social Velocity suggested that organizations need to have a realistic number of fundraisers. One employee can’t raise $1 million by herself. Giving employees the right tools can enable them to achieve better results. An interactive website and mobile donations platform can help your fundraisers turn their bright ideas into actions. Relying on the power of smartphones is the way to get employees more involved and secure a greater number of donations. […]

[…] Social Velocity suggested that organizations need to have a realistic number of fundraisers. One employee can’t raise $1 million by herself. Giving employees the right tools can enable them to achieve better results. An interactive website and mobile donations platform can help your fundraisers turn their bright ideas into actions. Relying on the power of smartphones is the way to get employees more involved and secure a greater number of donations. […]

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